Page 106 of Severed Heart

“I told you I will never forgive you,” she counters. “When are you leaving?”

“That hasn’t changed since our fight.” I grip her tighter. “The end of summer. Which is still months away, General. We have time to fish, swim, play Battle, and watch movies. Anything you want.”

“Imbecile,” she spouts, hurling the insult without giving a damn whether it hits or not. “Why, Tyler?”

“Stop. You understand why,” I scold, cutting the bullshit, and her eyes drop with that win. “You couldn’t possibly be reviving this argument because you’re going to miss me?” I ask, point-blank. One last stretch of my hand, of my fucking heart.

“Hmm, one less mouth to feed,” she jabs, her eyes lifting to mine as a soft smile tilts her lips. A smile that guts me. Another dismissal.

“As if you cook,” I jibe back, my tone lacking life before I press our tethered fingers into my chest. “Tu vas me manquer.”I’ll miss you.

She stills briefly, but I don’t miss it—the hesitation. We continue to sway until the song ends, and another begins to play. “So, what’s got you in the dancing mood tonight?”

“I don’t know,” she lies, “what putsyouin a mood?”

“Lots of things,” I answer just as vaguely.

“You’re doing this on purpose,” she reproaches as we continue to hold each other like the world is fucking ending while making small talk. She’s lying about her mood, her eyes reflective of that as the need to confront her summons all the willpower I have left.

“Doing what?” I counter in a tone of clear condescension.

She looks up at me through thick black lashes. “Mimics... mimicking me.”

“Ah, well, you’re currently doling out bullshit like a Pez dispenser, so I didn’t think you would mind.”

She wrinkles her perfect nose, and the light smattering of freckles is more pronounced due to her short length of time in the spring sun—with me.

“What is a Pez?”

“A sweet candy that comes in small doses.” I widen my eyes. “Kind of like your good moods.”

“And you’re ruining it with your smart mouth,” she quips.

“Liar,” I rasp out. “You love my smart mouth. You love that I spar with you.”

A few beats pass as we stare on at one another, fully absorbed before she speaks, her tone clearly affected. “Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“Maybe I’ll miss my soldier.” Her voice shakes with the delivery, as does the last of my patience.

Unable to handle another second, I grip the back of her head and tilt her face up to mine. “How much?”

Her eyes search mine frantically, and I see a hint of fear before she tries to pull away from me.

“Tyler—”

“Tell me I’m imagining what’s been happening between us, and I’ll call you out on that lie.”

“You are.”

“God dammit, stop it,” I scratch out, gripping her tighter, “enough.”

She immediately starts spouting out some reasoning I know is contrived. “We’ve been spending much time together and have a very strong friendship and care for one another deeply. There can be nothing more. Don’t be an imbecile. You’re a young boy.”

I take her blow and rebound just as quickly.

“I’m both amanand the soldier you helped to create, and you’ve done an incredible job of ignoring it these last few weeks, fucking months, but I’m not alone in this anymore, even if you don’t want it to be true.”